Roller scribe head



June 11, 1968 G. EAKER TAL 3,387,480

ROLLER SCRIBE HEAD Filed Sept. 9, 1965 United States Patent O 3,387,480 ROLLER SCRIBE HEAD Garlan Lee Eaker, Rome, Ga., and James W. Morton, Hickory, N.C., assiguors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 9, 1965, Ser. No. 486,139 2 Claims. (Cl. 72-203) ABSTRACT F 'THE DISCLOSURE A roller scribe head having a plurality of rotatable cutters for scribing wire prior to shaving. Each cutter is rotatably mounted in a cutter arm which in turn is pivotally mounted on a rotating member of the scribe head. Each cutter is mounted at an angle to the axis of movement of the wire through the scribe head to provide rotation of both the cutters and the rotatable member of the head about the wire as the wire is pulled through the head. Adjusting means are provided on each cutter arm to adjust the position of the cutter with respect to the Wire and thereby limit the depth of the scribing of the wire. A gauge member is provided to enable the accurate adjustment of the cutter arms to accurately position the cutters.

This invention relates to scribing devices for use in wire processing and more particularly to a roller scribe head.

As is well known in the wire processing art, prior to shaving wire to obtain a desired wire size the wire is scribed or grooved. Scribing of the wire is required to prevent stringy shavings during the shaving operation. As is well known, the stringy shavings tend to disrupt the shaving device. Presently, wire is scribed by use of scribe knives which are fixed in a rotatable scribing head. The knives are mounted in the rotatable head at a given angle to the axis of the wire. As the wire is pulled through the rotatable scribing head in contact with the knives, the head rotates causing the knives to produce longitudinal, spiral grooves or scribes on the wire. One of the principal problems with these fixed knife scribing devices is the frequent need to adjust the knives. As the wire is pulled through the fixed knives the cutting edges wear rapidly, requiring re-grinding of such edges. As will be understood, after the edges are re-ground the knives must be adjusted with respect to the wire to obtain a desired depth of scribe. In many instances the adjustment results in `scribing too deep, thereby leaving scribe marks on the finished wire. A typical set of fixed knives with frequent adjustment will produce approximately 30,000 pounds of copper wire.

From the above description it will be evident that there is a present need in the wire processing art for a scribing head which will increase wire productivity and lessen the need for frequent adjustment of the scribing member.

It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide a novel scribe head which will enable increased productivity in wire processing while substantially lessening the requirement for adjustment of the scribe head in use.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel scribe head which may be readily set to the desired depth of scribe.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a novel scribe head having rolling engagement with the wire to be processed.

In carrying out this invention in one form, a scribe head is provided comprising a cutter carrier rotatably mounted on a body member. The cutter has a plurality of arm members pivotally mounted thereon with a roller cutter rotatably mounted at the end of each arm. Means are proice vided on each arm for adjusting the position of each roller Cutter with respect to the body of the scribing head.

The invention which it is desired to protect will be particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims appended hereto. However, it is believed that this invention and the manner in which its various objects and advantages are obtained, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, particularly when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a substantial sectional view of a scribe head according to a preferred embodiment of this invention with parts omitted for greater clarity;

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the scribe head according to the preferred embodiment of this invention;

FIGURE 3 is a partial View of a scribing wheel and arm in accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a side view of one form of gauge device which may be used with the scribing head of this invention.

Reference will now be made to the drawing in which like numerals are used to indicate like parts throughout the various views thereof. Considering rst FIGURE 1 of the drawing there is shown in sectional view a roller type of scribe head 10 which includes a body member 12 on which is rotatably mounted the cutter carrier 14. The cutter carrier 14 is rotatably mounted on body 12 by means of a plurality of bearings 16. Pivotally mounted in the carrier 14 are a plurality of cutter arms, three being shown in FIG. 2 and designated 18, 20 and 22. Only cutter arm 18 is shown in FIG. 1 to enable a clearer presentation of the invention in FIG. 1. As can be seen, particularly from FIG. 2, carrier 14 is provided with a plurality of channels, three being shown and designated 24, 26 and 28, in which arms 18, 20 and 22 respectively are pivotally mounted. The cutter arm 18 will be described in detail as shown in FIG. 1, it being understood that the arms 20 and 22 are similarly constructed.

Referring again to FIG. 1, a portion of arm 18 fits within channel 24 as shown and is provided with an opening (not shown) at substantially its midpoint. Comparable openings (not shown) are provided in each side of channel 24. A bearing member 30 is placed through openings in the sides of channel 24 and the arm 1.8 thereby pivotally mounting arm 18 in channel 24 as is clearly apparent in FIG. 1. Retaining rings 32 are preferably placed on opposite sides of the bearing 30 as is indicated at FIG. 2 to secure the bearin g within the channel 24.

The forward part of arm 18 which extends beyond channel 24 is provided with a U-shaped cutter holder 34 in which is rotatably mounted the cutter wheel 36. As will be understood, in a similar manner the critter wheels 38 and 40 are rotatably mounted in the arm 20 and 22 respectively. The arms 18, 20 and 22 are preferably bent as is shown in FIG. 2 so that the cutter wheels 36, 38 and 40 will be mounted at an angle relative to the axis ofthe scribe head or to the movement of the wire through the scribe head. This angle is preferably 20 for the best results although other angles may be used with improved results over present day xed knives scribe heads. The cutter wheels, such as wheel 36, are preferably mounted on a bearing member 42 which is mounted by needle bearing 44 in the holder 34 in the manner shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing. Bearing spacer members 46 are provided on opposite sides for maintaining cutter 36 properly spaced in holder 34 in the manner shown in FIG. 3. The cutter wheels 36, 38 and 40 are preferably made of a carbide material and are ground to a V-shaped point in the manner shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing.

The rearward portion of arm 18 is provided with a set screw 48 which is used to adjust the scribing of arm 18 and wheel 36 about the pivot 30. In FIG. 1 of the drawing, a desired wire size is shown in phantom lines and, as can be seen, cutter wheel 36 is directly in contact with the phantom line indicating the desire Wire size. In order to set wheels 36 in the desired position with respect to the wire the set screw 48 is turned to properly position Wheel 36. After the cutter wheel has been set to its desired position the set screw 48 may be locked in place by means of a lock nut 50. As will be apparent, the wheels 38 and 40 are adjusted in a similar manner.

The body member 12 is provided with a cylindrical portion 52 as is shown in FIG. 1 on which the carrier 14 is rotatably mounted. A threaded portion is provided as at 54 at the end of cylindrical portion 52 and a r6- taining nut 56 is provided threaded onto threaded portion 54 for holding the carrier 14 rotatably mounted on body member 12. As is shown in FIG. 1, a bore 58 is provided through the body 12 having a large diameter main portion with a small diameter forward portion in the vicinity of the threaded portion 54. As is well understood by those skilled in the art the wire to be shaved is pulled past the cutters 36, 38 and 40 through the bore 58 and into a shaving device (not shown). As the wire is pulled through the scribe head the carrier 14 rotates about the body 12 causing the rollers or cutters 36, 38 and 40 to scribe longitudinal spiral grooves on the wire. As will be understood the head 10 is mounted on a shaving device, for example by means of the threaded portion 60, on the body 12.

In oder to set the cutters 36, 38 and 40 to the desired depth of scribe or cut a gauge 62 is provided. As is shown in FIG. 4, gauge 62 has a large diameter portion 64 which snugly ts within the large diameter portion of the bore 58. The smaller diameter portion 66 extends through bore 53 and into the area surrounded by cutters 36, 38 and 40. The small diameter portion 66 of the gauge 62 will be set to the desired shave size of the Wire to be scribed by the scribe head 10. The scribe wheels 36, 38 and 40 are adjusted by means of the set screw 48 in each of arms 18, 20 and 22, such that the scribe wheels 36, 38 Iand 40 will firmly contact the small diameter portion 66 of the gauge 62. When scribe rollers 36, 38 and 40 are in desired contact with small diameter portion 66 of gauge 62, locking nuts 50 are tightened on set screw 48 to prevent movement of set screw 48 in the arms 18, and 22. The gauge 62 lmay then be removed from the scribe head 10 and the scribe head may then be installed in a shaving device. As will be apparent from the weight of the forward portion of arms 18, 20 and 22 after the gauge plug has been removed the cutter wheels 36, 38 and 40 will be free to move inwardly but will return to the proper gauge dimension on insertion of a Wire through the head. Thus as will be apparent by means of the gauge 62 the positioning of the wire scribe cutters 36, 38 Iand 40 may be set to a desired depth of scribe and will not cause deep scribes to be made in the wire which would show up on the finished wire. As will be understood since the wheels are mounted in the rotatable carrier 14 at an angle to the axis of the wire movement through the head 10, they will be caused to rotate around the wire as the wire is Ipulled through the head. The rotation of wheels 36, 38 and 40 practically eliminates wear and adjustment problems in scribing of wire.

As an indication of the improvement obtained the roller type scribe head as set forth in this invention has produced 250,000 pounds of copper wire with no adjustment of scriber depth necessary due to wheel wear. Thus as can be seen from the invention hereinbefore set forth there is provided a novel type of scribe head which makes use of rotating cutter members to prevent undue Wear and to lessen the necessity for adjusting the cutters on the scribe head. Further, as will be apparent, by use of the gauge member set forth it is possible to set the cutter members to a desired depth of cut and thus prevent damaging nished wire by scribing the Wire lower than the desired depth for shaving purposes.

While there has been disclosed and described the present preferred embodiment of this invention it will of course be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made. For example, while there is shown three cutter heads substantially separated by around the circumference of the scribe head, it will of course be apparent that more or less cutter wheels may be used as desired. These and other changes may be made in the scribe head of this invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, particularly as the invention is set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed as new and which it is desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A roller scribe for wire processing comprising:

(a) a body member, said body member including a cylindrical portion having a bore therethrough,

(b) a cutter carrier, said cutter carrier being rotatably mounted on said cylindrical portion of said body member,

(c) a plurality of arm members, each of said arm members being pivotally mounted on said Cutter carrier,

(d) a plurality of cutter members, each of said cutter members being rotatably mounted in one of said arm members,

(e) and individual adjusting means on each of said arms for adjusting the position of each of said cutter members.

2. A roller scribe as claimed in claim 1 in which said adjusting means is in the form of a set screw and locking means are provided to lock said set screw in adjusted position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,289,167 7/1942 Bannister et al. 82-20 2,894,582 7/1959 Long 82-75 1,806,475 5/1931 Lee.

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Prima/y Examiner. 

